Though Best Buy advertised that its stores would have iPad 2 stock available for sale on Sunday, numerous customers came away empty handed as availability of Apple's touchscreen tablet remains limited.

A number of readers contacted AppleInsider to express their frustration with Sunday's sale. The big-box retailer made a marketing push with a Sunday flier advertising availability of the iPad 2, though the advertisement noted that stores would have "limited quantities" and offer "no rainchecks."

The company had revealed weeks ago that it was withholding some iPad 2 stock from sale for an upcoming promotion. But at least a handful of stores had no inventory available on Sunday, a fact that was upsetting to some customers.

"Moreover, they didn't even tell us while we were in line that they hadn't gotten a shipment," reader Joel from San Francisco, Calif., said "30 of us waited in line until 10am (I got in line at 9:40am) only to be told that they were out of stock."

He and others were offered the ability to sign up for Best Buy's waiting list, as the company has reenabled its reserve system for this week's promotion. Customers who reserve an iPad 2 will have the device held for no longer than 48 hours for pickup.

AppleInsider reached out to Best Buy on Monday for comment, but has not yet received a response. A leaked memo from the retailer made it clear before Sunday's promotion that the company knew customer interest would exceed available supply.

"Corporate Support Teams know that many stores won't be in the optimal inventory situation or have available units to meet our customers' requests for this ad," it said. "It will be critical that stores have their current reservation(s) worked through and execute any new reservations effectively to take care of as many customers as possible."

In Florida, another reader expressed frustration over the lack of inventory at a Best Buy store in South Miami Beach. Similar to the store in San Francisco, customers in line were not notified before the doors opened if there were any iPad 2 units in stock. Employees reportedly said they were "not supposed to talk about it."

And reader Eric was third in line in Avon, Ohio, where he, too, was not informed before Best Buy store opened for business that there was no iPad 2 stock. In Ohio and Michigan, Best Buy stores advertised that they would have a minimum of three units at each store.

Chris said despite the fact that he was third in line, he was only given an option to reserve an iPad by purchasing a $100 gift card. Best Buy's internal memo to employees said that stores in Ohio and Michigan would "meet the ad minimum" requirement by using the company's internal "Reserve Ticket Process."

This is a classic Best Buy ploy. They've been sued by State's Attorney Generals in the past for this type of misleading advertising. But those cases were more about bait-and-switch tactics where they'd try to redirect customers to buy something else instead of the item they saw in the ad. With this there's not really anything to "switch" the customer to. But if they can get customers to sign up on the waiting list, they can maybe prevent them from going someplace else to try and get an iPad.

A small number of states now require retailers to have a minimum number of devices anytime they advertise something as a result of this type of "scam". Too bad it's not a universal requirement everywhere.

Yep this happened to me yesterday. I was second in line at my local store. At 9:55 a rep came out and told us they had no iPads in stock. He did allow everyone in line to reserve an iPad for pickup when the next shipment arrives. Hopefully that will be quicker than the 2-3 week wait on Apple's store. Still a bit of a low blow from Best Buy.

This is a classic Best Buy ploy. They've been sued by State's Attorney Generals in the past for this type of misleading advertising. But those cases were more about bait-and-switch tactics where they'd try to redirect customers to buy something else instead of the item they saw in the ad. With this there's not really anything to "switch" the customer to. But if they can get customers to sign up on the waiting list, they can maybe prevent them from going someplace else to try and get an iPad.

A small number of states now require retailers to have a minimum number of devices anytime they advertise something as a result of this type of "scam". Too bad it's not a universal requirement everywhere.

So true I minimize my purchasing from worst buy
People need to learn and contact states AG
also just stop thinking that these type companies are truthfull
Buy online from apple get the app for that

I just wish everybody in the US would wake up and realize that Best Buy is one of if the worst retailers out there in the marketplace. I know that they will go out back to "see" if they have stock of an item, and if you don't buy the products extended warranty, they will say they are out. There is a reason they are getting sued all the time.

I really get tired about all the whiners who think an iPad2 is going to magically be waiting for them at Best Buy or any retail store. Everyone knows they are in limited supply. Anyone who shops at Best Buy deserves what they get. Best Buy has some of the worst service I have ever experienced at any type of store. I avoid them at all costs. If you shop at Best Buy you get what you deserve. If you want an iPad2, order it online from Apple - at least then you can track when the item is estimated to be shipped and delivered. Once shipped you get a delivery date so you can plan on when to wear extra strength Depends so you are ready when you piss yourself in excitement during your unboxing.

I was first in line at the Baltimore store and they did not have any ipad 2's. They said they only had the original Ipad's. They ended up getting 4 of the 64GB verizon ones because 2 people returned them but otherwise they would've had no stock.

Why would Best Buy run a special promotion for something that already has crushing demand? Sounds weird.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NOFEER

To force you to buy a gift card

And try to shove their add-on services down people throats. They know they iPad is under high demand so saving few iPads and running promotion saying that they have them in stock means many people will go to Best Buy before going to Apple stores. It is all about getting people in.

Yep.. I dont know why Apple, with it's AWESOME image for customer satisfaction would even CONSIDER going to BestBuy as an outlet for their products..

Between their ploys for forcing magazine subscriptions on to you, having different prices on the "inside the store version" of the website, to various other forms of advertisement trickery, or their ridiculous restocking fees, I stay away from all things related to Best Buy at all costs. NO WAY would I buy the iPad there..

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wiggin

This is a classic Best Buy ploy. They've been sued by State's Attorney Generals in the past for this type of misleading advertising. But those cases were more about bait-and-switch tactics where they'd try to redirect customers to buy something else instead of the item they saw in the ad. With this there's not really anything to "switch" the customer to. But if they can get customers to sign up on the waiting list, they can maybe prevent them from going someplace else to try and get an iPad.

A small number of states now require retailers to have a minimum number of devices anytime they advertise something as a result of this type of "scam". Too bad it's not a universal requirement everywhere.

I really get tired about all the whiners who think an iPad2 is going to magically be waiting for them at Best Buy or any retail store. Everyone knows they are in limited supply. Anyone who shops at Best Buy deserves what they get. Best Buy has some of the worst service I have ever experienced at any type of store. I avoid them at all costs. If you shop at Best Buy you get what you deserve. If you want an iPad2, order it online from Apple - at least then you can track when the item is estimated to be shipped and delivered. Once shipped you get a delivery date so you can plan on when to wear extra strength Depends so you are ready when you piss yourself in excitement during your unboxing.

Perhaps placing an order on Apple's online store asap is the way to go to avoid all this traipsing to Best Buy. At least you'd be able to get the Apple extended warranty without a fight.

Got my 32GB 3G iPad 2 on Craigslist for $29 under-market ($700) and no tax here in California - brand new in the box. Its all about timing on Craigslist.

Last year during the iPad crazies I bought and sold via Craiglist enough to keep the 64GB 3G version pretty much for free.

So in summary. Craigslist is the place to buy if you want one soon, and you want one for cheap.

Why do people sell you may ask? Well, people splurge and later need to pay rent. And college kids get them as gifts but would rather spend the money elsewhere... like to live secretly with their girlfriends. Many legit reasons... from the sellers perspective, maybe not the parents.

i had been on the pre-order list for 4 weeks this past friday.
i called and they said "oh we dont have you on here, but we have one waiting if you want to come get it".
well i did hop, skip and haul a** over there and got it, and it is SOOO awesome.

best buy however is ridic, they know they dont have stock and now they line people up!?!?!
that is so wrong and not sure what they were thinking!

they wanted people to give them $100 like i did and wait for a month, or they want you to buy something else in store, total bait and switch!!! BS

Why would Best Buy run a special promotion for something that already has crushing demand? Sounds weird.

Easy, to get people to the stores. Their hope is that while you were there you would check out what else was going on. AND you would put your name on the wait list so you would be coming back at least one more time.

Legally they did nothing wrong. They apparently had stock in the stores that were required to have stock and they were careful to say things like 'limited supply' 'no rainchecks' and if you look there was probably a line to the effect that "not all models are guaranteed at all stores" and they didn't hold back on filling previous reservations.

That said, way tacky in my book. They should NOT have hyped the ipad during this time. It wasn't needed and it was tasteless and even cruel to pull this move. It does nothing to help end the bad taste that lives in my mouth when I think of Best Buy as a company. I imagine a few thousand folks now also feel that way after this stunt

I am not sure why, given the fact that iPad 2 supplies are constrained around the country for all retailers, Best Buy would give it a big marketing push without proper stock.

It seems quite pointless since the price is the same and this promotion doesn't offer anything to the customer -- no free gift card, no free iPad 2 accessory, etc.

The only reason why I would buy and iPad 2 at Best Buy would be to take advantage of financing if I didn't have the cash handy. Frankly, I never buy from Best Buy any more. You can find the same stuff significantly cheaper at other places online like Amazon, Vanns, Newegg, etc.

I think Best Buy got caught by Apple hoarding iPads day by day in order to make their internal numbers better. In order to get out of it they lied and made up this saving them for a promotion thing. In case you haven't noticed BB is a pretty scummy organization.

I really get tired about all the whiners who think an iPad2 is going to magically be waiting for them at Best Buy or any retail store. Everyone knows they are in limited supply. Anyone who shops at Best Buy deserves what they get. Best Buy has some of the worst service I have ever experienced at any type of store. I avoid them at all costs. If you shop at Best Buy you get what you deserve. If you want an iPad2, order it online from Apple - at least then you can track when the item is estimated to be shipped and delivered. Once shipped you get a delivery date so you can plan on when to wear extra strength Depends so you are ready when you piss yourself in excitement during your unboxing.

I will say it again. Best Buy is good for one thing and one thing only. I go there to do my comparison and experience shopping. Then I go home an order online. Thanks BB for providing me the ability to touch and see a product before I buy, and not feel guilty about wasting some poor salesperson's time who is just trying to make a living.

Chris said despite the fact that he was third in line, he was only given an option to reserve an iPad by purchasing a $100 gift card.

I believe this is patently illegal.

I used to be in retail, and we had to be very careful about bait-and-switch laws. If a customer asked about something that was in a current advertisement, we were supposed to ask if they had seen something in the current ad, take the customer to the products and let them know it was for sale. Only at that point could we discuss anything else.

If we happened to be out of stock because of incredible demand or a delay in shipping (sometimes happens due to weather or other unforeseeable issues), we were required to offer a rain check and reserve stock for rain check holders as soon as it came in. We were also authorized to provide a suitable alternative of equal or greater value (if the customer is interested) at the same price or less.

Since there is no alternative here, they should simply pull customers on a list and perhaps provide some compensation (a small % discount or a $5-10 gift card?) for their trouble.

It makes no sense for them to do a promotion for a produce in short supply unless they are simply trying to trick people to come to the store. That's bad business. Unless they offer their customers something for their trouble (a gift card or discount), they are undermining the goodwill of their customers. That's one of the reasons behind the failure of Circuit City and CompUSA.

If you want to buy some AAPL stocks the time is now. AAPL was already low and this morning the Market plummed so AAPL is now trading at bargain prices

and the quarterly results are this week, this will remind investors that AAPL is still make loads of $$.

That's brilliant advice. The Apple stock bulls said the same thing at $350 and $360. Get in before it rockets up to $400. They'll be saying the same thing when Apple is at $300 later in the week.
What's that saying? Even a broken clock shows the correct time at least twice in a 24 hour period. Forgive me, but the Apple optimists can be dangerously misleading in the short term since they're kind of screwing with investors heads and investors precious money. They should just say something practical like, "We know Apple is a highly manipulated stock and very risky to buy. So, the stock is basically a crap shoot from quarter to quarter." That's what they should tell investors.

The whole iPad2 supply issue stinks, and it's not really Best Buys fault!!

It's totally Apple's fault!!

I really want a new iPad but I am not willing to play Apple's games!!

If more folks would feel the same way and refuse to buy them until they are really available!! Maybe Apple would take the hint and make sure that they have enough inventory before they make any product available!!

I am not forking over $100 on the off chance they will call me when it comes in!! Or stand in line at Apple store for hours on end! It is just WRONG!!!!

That's brilliant advice. The Apple stock bulls said the same thing at $350 and $360. Get in before it rockets up to $400. They'll be saying the same thing when Apple is at $300 later in the week.
What's that saying? Even a broken clock shows the correct time at least twice in a 24 hour period. Forgive me, but the Apple optimists can be dangerously misleading in the short term since they're kind of screwing with investors heads and investors precious money. They should just say something practical like, "We know Apple is a highly manipulated stock and very risky to buy. So, the stock is basically a crap shoot from quarter to quarter." That's what they should tell investors.

brillant

not

minus off the 50bn in cash appl holds and figure out the stock price
and then take 5 hot products at 36 % profit margins
add a dash of no debt
and aapl is way under priced compared to the whole market

ipod's still sell 10 million yr with 3 major markets only now getting them
ipod touch is still selling 5 to 8 mn a 1/4
mbp is on %30 percent yr over yr increase for 4 straight 1/4's and
mac over all has shown an increase in sales for 32 straight 1/4's
and mba is on fire right now

I’m #2 in line with me Reserve Ticket at my local Best Buy. It’s been over a month, and they still have not received any iPads of the model I want (64 WiFi). They didn’t lose my ticket, either: they called Saturday to ask if I still wanted to wait. (I paid $100 deposit, but I can get it back.) So I think they just literally never got any of that model. (Neither did Toys’R Us and one other store I checked. Maybe that’s just a rare model.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by captmark

The whole iPad2 supply issue stinks, and it's not really Best Buys fault!!

It's totally Apple's fault!!

I really want a new iPad but I am not willing to play Apple's games!!

If more folks would feel the same way and refuse to buy them until they are really available!! Maybe Apple would take the hint and make sure that they have enough inventory before they make any product available!!

I am not forking over $100 on the off chance they will call me when it comes in!! Or stand in line at Apple store for hours on end! It is just WRONG!!!!

I agree, boycott products that aren’t available for sale! Only buy products that are for sale. Just kidding.

In any case, hindsight is 20/20. Apple truly doesn’t know what demand will be. And delaying the launch, waiting while renting huge warehouses for millions of iPads would only do three things: a) help competing products, b) cause even MORE pent-up demand, not less, and c) force millions of currently-happy customers to wait, which wouldn’t have made people happy either.

I used to be in retail, and we had to be very careful about bait-and-switch laws. If a customer asked about something that was in a current advertisement, we were supposed to ask if they had seen something in the current ad, take the customer to the products and let them know it was for sale. Only at that point could we discuss anything else.

If we happened to be out of stock because of incredible demand or a delay in shipping (sometimes happens due to weather or other unforeseeable issues), we were required to offer a rain check and reserve stock for rain check holders as soon as it came in. We were also authorized to provide a suitable alternative of equal or greater value (if the customer is interested) at the same price or less.

Since there is no alternative here, they should simply pull customers on a list and perhaps provide some compensation (a small % discount or a $5-10 gift card?) for their trouble.

It makes no sense for them to do a promotion for a produce in short supply unless they are simply trying to trick people to come to the store. That's bad business. Unless they offer their customers something for their trouble (a gift card or discount), they are undermining the goodwill of their customers. That's one of the reasons behind the failure of Circuit City and CompUSA.

best buy pull these tricks all the time
BUT for 100 dollar down and 24 hrs later you get an ipad2 is not a bad deal .
best buy employees are buying them all up anyway and reselling to oversea's shippers at a 200 or more hit
so go to apple and wait in line and you shall receive

I have not had any of the problems folks are talking about regarding Best Buy. Then again I don't buy things like power strips and extended warranty plans etc. And also I generally know what I want and how much it is and how whether they have it in stock or not.

When I bought my 2011 MacBook Pro - I asked for what I wanted - he looked it up - found it in the cage - and I bought it and left - can't even recall if he offered the extended warranty - if so I refused and the transaction proceeded.

The best part - no interest for 18 months - and $50 back in rewards dollars towards a future purchase.

That's brilliant advice. The Apple stock bulls said the same thing at $350 and $360. Get in before it rockets up to $400. They'll be saying the same thing when Apple is at $300 later in the week.
What's that saying? Even a broken clock shows the correct time at least twice in a 24 hour period. Forgive me, but the Apple optimists can be dangerously misleading in the short term since they're kind of screwing with investors heads and investors precious money. They should just say something practical like, "We know Apple is a highly manipulated stock and very risky to buy. So, the stock is basically a crap shoot from quarter to quarter." That's what they should tell investors.

I first bought Apple stock at around $89 per share. And that was "expensive" at the time, since the stock had been high 60s and 70s a short time before that. It's all relative. Bottom line: Apple is still a good stock, and they're probably right about the $400 target.

A high of $363 in February and a price of $324 this am isn't just down 1-2%.

I'm pretty sure that is a different scope. I mean down 1-2% from Friday, which I think is much closer to the time frame of the person I was replying to. Apple is down less than 1% from opening this morning.